Want to know where The Merchant Of Venice is set? Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice is set in renaissance Venice, with a few scenes in a town called Belmont. The setting is important – Venice was one of the wealthiest towns in Europe, as it was right on the sea, with excellent shipping facilities for trading with the east. There was a big Jewish population, and a ghetto, where they lived. They were hated by the Christian community although its members went to the Jewish money lenders when they needed to – as occurs in this play. The play is partly about the relationship between Jews and Christians who have to live side by side in a very small space. The story springs from that clash in Venice.

The map below shows all the locations Shakespeare used for The Merchant Of Venice, and below the map is a text list of the locations. When you click a pin on the map it opens to show all of the settings used within the location, using Shakespeare actual wording. You can zoom in on the map for a more detailed view of an area, click the icons on the map for more information, or use the list of all map pins below the The Merchant Of Venice settings map: